Close to my Heart

I don't have a clue what to title this

So that is what you get.  Me just being silly!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday greetings as well as the complements on the pinwheel.  I had a really lovely birthday. 

Now on with today's post.

I hadn't been over to Quadra Island and Fun Knits since the knitting retreat in March, so was happy to go over yesterday.   It was a beautiful day for an ocean voyage.  Here's the view of Campbell River, looking back after the ferry had set sail:
 
I never get tired of looking at those beautiful snow capped mountains!

Shortly before I arrived at Fun Knits, this had been delivered:

That's Shelley cutting the big bales open.  I think she'll be telling you more about what is inside over at her blog when she has a chance, I know she's really busy the next while.

Of course the highlight of the day was connecting with Uli and her family, who were on Vancouver Island on vacation.   Unfortunately, we all forgot to take pictures of the event.  Bad bloggers, no cookie!  (I'm blatantly stealing a line from Lime and Violet).

Given that I just charged my car insurance and our new blinds on the ol' plastic, and also given that I'm about to go to Vancouver where I know I'll be spending some time shopping, I showed great restraint as far as stash acquisition goes.  Here's the measly three things that came home with me:

Prairie Wool that I had plans to combine with some of my handspun, tofutsie sock yarn because I love it and only have one other ball in my stash, and pretty Sweatermaker merino roving.

I'm now off to knit on my own handspun for the very first time.  Squee!

Monday Already

Not sure where the weekend went, but it sure was quick!  I spent very little time playing with fiber this weekend.  I don't think I picked up the spindle or the needles until Sunday night.  I spent FAR too much time playing with Facebook, and those of you who know my last name can find me there.  My niece told me it was cool, so thought I'd check it out.  I didn't think I would have a great need for Facebook given that I'm on Ravelry, but it's pretty neat, and after all, not ALL my friends and family knit or crochet!  I also made a couple cards for two friends with July birthdays.

I'm still spending a bit of time looking around Etsy, but am slowing down a little.  Last week, I received this in the mail:

Yummy roving from Yummy Yarn.  This seller is located fairly close by, and this actually arrived in my mailbox the day after I ordered it.  I was shocked to see it there so quickly!

And another addition to my fiber stash, from the Farmer's Market yesterday:

Alpaca!

Joe spent a good portion of the weekend on yard clean up, and it looks pretty good now.  It was long overdo and he feels great to have it done.  We even have the beginning of a fish pond now, to replace our last failed attempt at a garden (the Farmer's Market is for people like us!).  My contribution was some pretty hanging baskets I bought yesterday:

We're finally having some hot summer weather so I better remember to water or they'll be toast quickly. 

Hope you have a great summer week wherever you are!

Can't Stop Spinning

Back to work for me today.  I had a lousy sleep and have been awake a good 90 minutes prior to when my alarm would go off.  After tossing and turning for a good hour, I finally gave up and got up.  Part of the reason I couldn't sleep was that I was thinking of spinning.  I had a fun spinning day yesterday.  I started off by winding the boring pink corriedale off my Louet spindle and onto my brand new niddy noddy:

The plain pink just isn't doing it for me now that I have some gorgeous handpainted roving to spin.  I'm finding this yarn to be a somewhat brittle as well.  I have a couple ounces of this left, and it will eventually be spun.  In the meantime, I just couldn't resist pulling out my new Copperpot roving:

This is the Black Roses Colourway, and is 90% Merino, 10% tencel.  Gorgeous fiber that is spinning up nicely.  I'm quite happy with my spinning progress.  The main thing I noticed yesterday is that I'm now able to get a good spin going and therefore can spin longer lengths of fiber before I have to stop and wind onto my spindle.  I happily spun away and did not want to put it down!

I did however stop spinning long enough to go meet up with my yarn pusher.  It was really kind of funny, I pulled up in my car next to Shelley's van.  I didn't even get out of my car, and was handed a pink bag containing this:

I think you all probably can figure out what these two big beautiful hanks of wool are!

Recap of Last Weekend

Other than the Harlot post, I've been quite negligent about talking about the wonderful weekend I had (already a week ago) at the Victoria Fibre Festival.

It started off with a Fashion Show Friday night.  The best part about this was being able to spend time with other knitters, especially Shelley, Megan and little Meika, who is definitely going to be an up and coming knitter.  She has to, it's in the genes, her Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma all knit!  The fashion show had it's high and low points, there was a little too much fun fur for my tastes.

Saturday morning found me trudging off in the rain to attend a spinning class.  It was awesome to meet a few other knit bloggers, Raven, Michelle and Chris.  We've all been in touch a little during this week, and Michelle and I are already making plans to meet up again when she visits my community in August.  The spinning class was excellent, and proved to be just the hands on instruction that I needed.  I'm happy to report that I just finished my first post class session with my spindle, and I'm very pleased with how it went.  Hopefully there will be lots more spinning content here, there has to be as you'll see when I show you shortly the roving that I purchased!

Following the spinning class, Raven and I grabbed a quick lunch in Chinatown (just up the street from the class) Raven went to a weaving class, and I headed out on my own for a mini yarn crawl.  In one of the stores, I spotted someone who looked familiar, and quickly realized that it was Lizz and her mother.  She recognized me right away too.  We've been reading each other's blogs for a few years now, so it was nice to finally meet.

I thought I showed great restraint on this little yarn crawl.  I was saving my money for the Knit Out the following day, so all I bought was this roving:

and this sock pattern.

Before long it was time to head to the ferry to pick up Uli (great seeing you again, looking forward to seeing you and your family again next month!), back to the hotel, met up with Shelley and Megan and headed out to find the venue for the Yarn Harlot talk.  We parked the car, grabbed a quick supper, and then back to the Community Center to hear Stephanie.  It was so awesome when we walked into the gymnasium to find it full of people knitting:

Once again, it was great to connect with other knit bloggers.  Gina was behind me in the book signing line up, and I enjoyed chatting with her.  Sorry I didn't say goodbye, I got rather excited and distracted later!

Sunday was the Knit Out at Saxe Point Park.  Unfortunately, the weather left a little to be desired that day, but didn't stop me from some Stash Acquisition.  I bought some pretty superwash roving that is going to take me a LONG time to spin:

There's way more roving there than it appears in this picture.  If I do run out though, Hummingbird Fibre Arts is located in Nanaimo, not far from my parents' house.

The remainder of my weekend fibre purchases came from my favourite LYS, Fun Knits:

There's some Sweatermaker Roving, Tofutsies, Opal Feeling. Lorna's Laces, and Sweatermaker Island Hues Sock yarn.  This should keep me busy for a while!

Phew, this post has been a long time coming.  A direct result of the weekend was that I've been completely obsessed with knitting, crocheting, and spinning.  I chose to spend my week off doing those three things rather than blogging.  Today was a productive chore day, and now my final two days off I can get back to the Fiber, as well as some papercrafting that has a deadline attached.

And for now, better hit the pillow.  Thanks if you've made it this far, this ended up being quite the long post!

Saturday Shopping

Here it is Saturday, it's already my second day off, and I still have three more to go.  Gotta love a long weekend!  Monday is a stat holiday here, and Tuesday is my flex day.  The last couple days have been all about shopping and stash and craft supply accumulation, the next few days the crafting production will hopefully occur.

I decided to go for a drive to Courtenay today, which of course meant a stop at the LYS.  I was specifically after some yarn to make something for spring and summer.  And because there has not been any crocheting here for far too long, I chose a crochet project:

I also bought some sock yarn.

I hadn't seen this particular yarn before, and it was very inexpensive.  And we all know that sock yarn doesn't count as stash!

Next stop was Winners.  I'm told that Winners is a lot like Ross Department Store in the States, although I've not yet been to one myself.  I needed to replace my beloved cute pink and brown purse.  Unfortunately, it's rather cheaply made and keeps ripping.  The store I purchased it from has already replaced it for me once.  I'm not interested in a second replacement, I just want my money back.  Obviously the construction is very poor.  Too bad, I so loved this purse!  So today I found this funky brown leather number:

It has lots of compartments inside (an essential as far as I'm concerned) and plenty of room to hold my a take along sock WIP (also an essential feature).  And it's quite obviously much better made than the pink and brown one.

And finally, I just couldn't resist these brown shoes:

They'll look nice with the brown and pink floral skirt I bought last week (no pictures of this to show you) to go with my new shawl.  Now if the weather would just co-operate, I could show off my new outfit!

Yesterday's most significant crafting purchase was an embossing tool, which should help take my papercrafting to the next level.  I played with it a bit last night, and know I'm going to have a lot of fun using it.  I'll fire it up some more tomorrow, the remainder of this Saturday is going to be spent playing with yarn.

Thanks for all the sympathetic comments about my tooth extraction.  All went well, nitrous is my friend, and my mouth is feeling a lot better with the offending cracked tooth gone.

Finally, Happy Easter to those of you that celebrate!

Knitting Retreat Epilogue: The Stash

What a difference a week makes.  Last week at this time, I was enjoying this lovely setting:

It still brings a smile to my face when I think about the retreat.  I was thrilled earlier in the week to see that Shelley has already reserved the dates at Camp Homewood for next year's retreat.  I definitely plan to attend.

The Retreat weekend found us visiting Fun Knits twice, so of course, I did add to the ol' stash.  Here's what I ended up with.  On the left is some Lorna's Laces Sock yarn.  I've been looking for some time for a colourway that would go with black pants, so this should do the trick.  On the right is Colinette jitterbug, which is so lovely it just might be for something lacy that is not hidden away on feet.

Patons Classic, in the same colours I used for the Fairisle Teddy Bear I showed you in the last post.  I bought enough of each colour to make a large felted bag, probably with some sort of fairisle design incorporated into it. 

Shelley was nice enough to invite two local yarn vendors to the retreat on Saturday morning.  I purchased this lace weight yarn from one of them, enough to make a substantial size shawl:

Anyhow, life here is good.  I have a renewed interest in my knitting, and we are enjoying some spring weekend weather.  I'm having a leisurely Saturday at home, but will go out  soon  to do a few errands and maybe even some spring clothing shopping.  Here's a sneak preview of my latest finished knit blocking.  I'm after some co-ordinating garments to wear it with.

Happy Weekend!

Neglectful Blogger

I think I've only been posting here about once a week lately, bad me!  I've been much more regular over at the Paper Craft Blog, Island Crafts, if you're interested in seeing what I'm up to.  I seem to be in a bit of a knitting slump.  I think there are a few reasons for that.  Number one is that my creative juices are being channeled into the card making at the moment, which I'm really enjoying.  Number two is that I feel that it is between seasons a bit.  I have plenty of warm winter cardis, and am not really interested in starting another at the moment.  Yet it feels a little too early to knit for spring and summer.  That being said, I'll probably start a simple lace shawl very soon.  And there's always socks.  Not only do I have socks on the needles, but I acquired more sock yarn yesterday. 

First the new stash.  Yesterday was our community's now annual Sewing and Needlework Show, and Fun Knits had a booth.  I was excited about seeing the Sweatermaker Floral Spectrum Sock Yarn that Shelley has been blogging about, so not surprisingly came home with two hanks:

Absolutely gorgeous yarn, pretty and soft.  I'd highly recommend visiting the Fun Knits Web Store and getting some for yourself.  I know that some of my regular readers are easily tempted by sock yarn, and I'm always happy to enable! I'm looking forward to either knitting this yarn or carrying it around just to feel, it is that nice.

And finally, here's this weeks knitting project, socks for Joe in Project Spectrum Blue for February.

I always try to knit a pair of socks in the Project Spectrum colour, and am hopeful that I'll finish in what's left of this month.  Since taking this picture yesterday afternoon, I've now finished the gusset decreases for one sock, and am ready to knit the heel flap on the second.  Yarn is Opal 6 Ply, which is a sport weight yarn, so the knitting is going quite quickly.

And that's about it for me today.  Hope your Sunday is going well!

Valentine's Sweater

I thought that Valentine's Day would be a good day to debut my new Malabrigo cardi.  I wore it to work today, and although the sleeves could have been a smidgen longer (I could potentially rip back and add some length, but usually am unmotivated/too lazy when I feel like I already have a finished object), I'm very happy with my new sweater.

Details

Started:  January 6

Finished: February 10

Yarn:  Malabrigo Worsted in the Amoroso Colourway

Pattern:  Cosmicpluto's Top-Down, instructions here.

Comments: 
I knit this following Laura's great instructions.  I knit seed stitch border for both the top edge, button band, waist, and cuffs.  I also added the waist shaping as I find a sweater with shaping to be much more flattering.  This was a great pattern that I'll use again (can't beat the easy finishing that comes with top down construction) and would potentially look at ways to personalize the sweater a little more (maybe cables, pattern stitch, colour work, lots of potential there I think).

And LOVE the Malabrigo yarn, it is so soft to work with, and cozy and comfy to wear.  HIGHLY recommend this yarn, it's worth every penny!

(Note to self:  might be a good idea to touch up the make-up when doing the photo shoot at the end of the work day.  Ick, hope the pale skin and under eye circles don't scare anyone!)

In other news, the Socks That Rock that I one in a   contest at January One arrived yesterday:

It's in the Puck's Mischief Colourway.  Beautiful soft yarny goodness that I'm going to enjoy knitting with.  I'll now have to pick a worthy pattern.  Thanks Cara!

Catch-Up

I've certainly been neglecting the ol' blog this week, haven't I?  I have been talking to myself over at Island Crafts, if you're interested in seeing what I've been up to. 

There has however been some knitting happening here this weekend.  I've finished the first sleeve on the top down Malabrigo cardi this afternoon, one sleeve to knit, many buttons to sew on, and I'll have a new sweater. 

Earlier in the week, I finished the Lorna's Laces Daffodil Socks:

The picot cuff is a nice change from the usual ribbing, and I'll definitely use it again.  Otherwise, these are basic boring stockinette stitch socks, but I think the colourway is a nice burst of spring.  Interestingly, I've typically knit socks for myself on 64 stitches.  I used 60 stitches on this pair, and they seem to fit much better.  And, despite all the fiddling I tend to do trying different heels and toes, I've decided that I prefer a basic top down heel flap sock with a standard kitchenered toe.  Go figure!

And still earlier in the week, I was able to pay a visit to Fun Knits.  I registered for the Knitting Retreat, and am really looking forward to it.  I showed some restraint in my purchasing, but did come home with enough sock yarn for three more pair:

My Dad loves the socks I made him for Christmas so much that he has hinted for more.  The Regia on the top will be knit into Father's Day socks.  And Joe too loves his Christmas socks, including the thicker yarn, so the Opal 6 Ply will be for him.  The Tofutsies is simply to add to the stash, but will likely be knit up soon as I'm anxious to try it.  It's very soft to the touch, and is made of 50% Superwash Wool, 25.5% Cotton, and 2.5 % Chitin, which according to the label is fiber from shrimp and crab shells and is naturally antibacterial.  I'm contemplating knitting it into another pair of Monkey socks.

That's it for me this Sunday evening.  We had an early dinner, so I'm now looking forward to a relaxing evening with my knitting.

(Note:  Back to the ol' Coolpix for the next month or so, as the new camera is on loan to my parents.)   

Home, Sick

The trip to Victoria went quite well.  Stayed in a different hotel, which was probably the nicest ever for me.  Pure luxury!  The final day of the Leadership course I was taking went really well.  We had to do a group presentation.  Ours went really well, and I think got the attention of the mucky mucks.  Something may even come of it!  And we all got really nice diplomas to boot.

I managed to hit three different LYSs while away.  At the first store, I surprised myself by walking away empty handed.  It was the tail end of their annual January sale, with almost everything in the store discounted.  Everything except the yarns I was interested in unfortunately.  I did not however walk away empty handed from the other two stores, but didn't increase my stash by too much. 

At the Second store, I found some Cascade Wool:

I've never even seen Cascade before, but have heard lots about it so just had to purchase it.  And Paula, notice how I stepped out of my usual colour comfort zone?  This is destined to become a felted bag.

My final stop on the way home yesterday was a new store that carries tons of Fleece Artist.  I love Fleece Artist, and I always like to support new stores.  I came away with one hank, this is 55% silk, 45% Cashmere and is absolutely gorgeous. 

The picture truly does not do this yarn justice.  There is a pattern on the yarn for a wavy scarf, which I may or may not knit with this yarn.

Unfortunately, I came down with a cold before leaving home on Monday morning, and felt pretty crappy my entire time away.  I went straight to bed yesterday mid day, no heading to the office for me.  I had always thought a sick day might be a nice thing, since I rarely take them.  I envisioned resting for a bit, knitting for a bit alternating both throughout the day.  It hasn't quite turned out like that, at least yesterday, I felt way too crappy to knit.  I feel somewhat better today and did manage to pull out the Malabrigo Cardi briefly.  It is rather cumbersome in my lap now that the body is done and I'm working on the sleeve though, so it tires me quickly.  Yep, being home sick isn't all it's cracked up to be!